Ancient Times (Civ3)

In order to advance to the next era, all technologies must be discovered, except for those marked with the "No" symbol, specifically Literature, Monarchy and The Republic. Out of 21 technologies in the Ancient Era, only 18 technologies need to be discovered to advance into the next era.

All civilizations in Civilization III start in Ancient Times if not customized.

Broadly speaking, "Ancient Times" is the time from the last centuries of pre-history (usually 4000 BC in Civilization games) and lasting until just after the fall of the western Roman Empire in about 500 AD, which marked the beginning of a thousand-year period called the Middle Ages. Many of the empires that started in this era were around Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

Although Ancient Times officially began when writing was discovered, the game begins a few centuries before this. This is done to give you a settler that's wandering and you can have this "I'm a wandering nomad" feeling in the game. Most parts of the world in real life had remained in a state of pre-history even by 2000 BC, so it is true that not all parts of the world were taking part initially when Ancient Times had begun. The first city to be built in real life was Ur (circa 3400 BC) in the ancient kingdom of Sumer in the region of Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq. The next notable event was in 3100 BC when Egypt was unified under king Menes.